Hell Scroll (2)
"Oh my God in heaven. What the hell is all that..."
Peering through binoculars at the bulk carrier, the man let out a deep sigh.
It wasn't a particularly large bulk carrier. But the equipment being unloaded from it was a sight to behold.
Quad bikes, MANPADS, anti-tank rocket launchers, machine guns, anti-materiel rifles... An endless stream of heavy weaponry poured out, accompanied by enough ammo to supply a platoon for a full week without running short.
Yet only four people emerged from the bulk carrier. The middle-aged woman had to be Han Si-yeon, president of Oriental Shipping. The other three man and women looked like her entourage.
"Did they really think Oriental still had forces holding out here?"
"What a naive bitch."
Oriental's forces on Hong Kong Island had been completely wiped out. The only remnants were probably holed up in the lab, unable to move.
They must have brought all that gear intending to arm the local allies. Too bad for them. Might as well consider it a gift handed straight to us.
The men chuckled and smacked their lips.
If we just capture that president bitch, we'll turn our lives around. Jackpot.
They'd killed off all the port staff and had their own team impersonate them. And so, after a month of waiting through this unplanned unloading operation, the "key" from Oriental had finally arrived—the key to opening the lab.
He wanted to rush in right away, but seeing the level of gear changed his mind. The three staffers with Han Si-yeon looked scrawny and non-threatening, but anyone behind a machine gun could hold their own. A head-on clash would mean massive casualties.
Sniping or ambush was the way to go.
He'd braced for a few more days of waiting, but unexpectedly, just hours later, a signal came from inside the ship.
"The key... and one staffer... let them go... they're leaving...?"
Soon, a quad bike loaded with the Korean man and woman, plus assorted gear, headed off toward the city center.
According to the signal, Han Si-yeon and one female staffer remained on the ship. Were they sending scouts to clear the path to the lab in place of the president herself? Either way, perfect.
"Don't block the bikes. No attacking. Wait till they're far gone, then strike."
"Got it."
Once the two bikes were well away and night deepened again, shadows began slithering through the underbrush in the darkness.
Whistling casually as if patrolling the port, one staffer grabbed a line stretching into the sea and tugged.
Twang— He pulled at steady intervals, and from the other end came an identical twang—.
Soon, men in wetsuits emerged silently from the water. Grasping the rope connected to the bulk carrier, they climbed aboard quietly.
Before long, the deck was seized by dozens of burly men armed with fire extinguishers.
Done. It's over.
More hatches connected the deck to the interior, and hidden troops poured onto the ship.
Thud thud thud— They infiltrated rapidly.
Lightning assault. They had to seize the ship as fast as possible.
Troops entering the engine room declared it secured. Those reaching the bridge announced all clear.
Only one unchecked area remained: a single cabin.
Stupid bitch. So damn naive.
When headquarters sent Han Si-yeon, did they tell her Oriental had Hong Kong Island locked down tight, no worries? How else could she be so careless?
Well, they had done subcontract work for Oriental once, so HQ's intel wasn't entirely off. The problem was the "recipe" had spread far and wide. Instead of handing it to HQ, anyone could sell it to pharma companies worldwide and flip their lives upside down—and everyone knew it.
"Down! Hands up!"
Bang! They blew the door with explosives and rushed in, barking clumsily memorized standard Chinese phrases. Han Si-yeon wouldn't understand Cantonese, obviously.
But the room was empty. Confusion flashed across the man's face.
"What? Where the hell did that bitch go?"
> Who's that? No all-clear yet—why break radio silence?
> Emergency! Bomb in the fuel tank...
> Fuck!?
Boom.
Gazing at the harbor exploding spectacularly and lighting up the night sky, Yuri gasped.
Even from this distance, the shockwave was palpable. Anyone near the ship would've been obliterated.
Cheol-woo tossed the detonator switch back into the box and unlocked the travel bag.
"Phew...!"
Clatter—click— The bag opened sequentially, spilling out Han Si-yeon and Team Leader Kim Mi-young.
This crazy bastard—actually blew it up?
Han Si-yeon stared at the harbor, mouth agape.
"Ha. You really went all out."
"Yeah. Using the fuel tanks should ensure total destruction."
"Hey. Do you even know how much that ship cost?"
"Don't care. It was getting taken by the enemy anyway—useless even if we got it back. Better to destroy it than let them have it, right?"
"..."
She couldn't argue with that logic.
Was scorched-earth tactics just in his DNA? Not a car or bike, but blowing up the whole damn ship? How the hell were they leaving Hong Kong?
If she asked, he'd probably just say, We'll figure that out later.
"Let's move before they send pursuers. They didn't get wiped out completely."
"..."
Probably lost the will to chase after that.
Han Si-yeon hopped on the back of the quad bike driven by Team Leader Kim Mi-young, thinking that inwardly.
Thanks to Cheol-woo's plan, they'd made it pretty far without a single attack.
With Han Si-yeon visible in the carrier heading to the city with Cheol-woo and Yuri, the enemy had to let them go until they were out of range.
They'd safely(?) escaped what she'd pegged as the riskiest spot since arriving in Hong Kong—the port—without a scratch.
Vroom— The electric quad bike hummed softly over the shattered roads.
Downtown was a mess from the earthquake: buildings collapsed everywhere, roads buckled.
First priority: secure a safe base to rest.
"No mutants around? Thought they got active at night."
"They're sensitive to noise and light. Probably all swarmed the port."
"Ah."
Now it made sense why the city felt so empty. That massive blast must've been partly to lure them in.
Thanks to it, Cheol-woo's group entered the city without encountering a single mutant.
"There's a building up ahead that Oriental prepped as a fallback fortress. Let's use that as our base."
"Bad idea. If it's fortress-worthy, others know it too. Word of the president arriving spread the second the ship docked—assume it's already taken."
"...Yeah, you're right."
To Cheol-woo, humans were way more dangerous than the mutant hordes crawling Hong Kong. Hadn't they seen that emergency chopper get shot down just for flying? Mutants were predictable; human viciousness had no limits.
Hope we avoid people as much as possible...
He wished for no human encounters on the way to the lab—while desperately hoping to spot some. He'd fought mutants, sure, but not hordes in the hundreds or thousands. Not through day and night nonstop.
He knew more about what he didn't know regarding mutant ecology and Hong Kong's internals.
A local guide who knew the lay of the land would be ideal—if he could be trusted.
"That building ahead looks intact. Rest there before moving?"
"Yeah. Let me check if it's safe..."
"What's wrong, Cheol-woo?"
"Hold on. Thought I heard something..."
Cheol-woo raised his hand. Quad bike engines cut off instantly; everyone clamped their mouths shut.
Only the whisper of wind through the silent city.
Cheol-woo's eyes twitched as he focused on it.
Something odd mixed in the gusts...
Ah?
"Into the building. Move—now!"
"...!"
Screeeee—! Something streaked from the sky.
Cheol-woo snapped up his HK-417 and unleashed a burst: bang-bang-bang!
Aiming ahead to compensate for speed. One round grazed—ping— knocking its trajectory off. It plummeted.
It hit the ground with a boom! that made Cheol-woo's hackles rise.
"Drone..."
Whirrrrr— Now from all directions, simultaneous.
Thoom...! Thud!
"Boss. Third Street."
"Yeah. I hear it."
Continuous explosions echoing from afar. The sun hadn't even risen, yet it was rousing the whole city.
Rustle—swish— Silhouettes stirred in the dark.
No orders needed; the black shadows clack-clunk silently chambered rounds and packed gear.
"Key must've arrived."
Kamikaze drone swarm. The Ruskis' signature move.
When they'd first hit Hong Kong, those things gave them hell—remembering made him shudder.
Back then it was a nightmare; now, with the key arriving, they were blaring the alarm for free. Might as well be grateful.
Smart not killing them all despite the bullshit.
With 'company' support cut off, you had to use even enemies to survive places like this.
"Hounds. Let's move before it's too late."
"..."
Rustle—rustle— The figures sluggishly complied in silence.
Soon the drone barrage ended, explosions fading.
But things reacting to the noise were already coming: grrr—kraaa— shuffling footsteps tat-tat-tat.